JLR embarks on recruitment drive

Jaguar Land Rover will increase its workforce by nearly 15% in the next year, according to reports.

The company is planning to hire an extra 5,000 staff in the next 12 months in a bid to boost its electronic and software capabilities.

This is according to The Telegraph, which says JLR will increase its domestic workforce to about 42,000 to accelerate development of self-driving vehicles and technology.

To find tech-savvy people, JLR is joining forces with the band Gorillaz and using its alternate reality app. The app is a code-breaking challenge and those who successfully decipher it will be fast-tracked through the JLR recruitment process without the traditional CV and paper sift.

Alex Heslop, JLR’s head of electrical engineering, said, ‘As the automotive industry transforms over the next decade we will have to attract the best talent and that requires a radical rethink of how we recruit. This is a way to recruit a diverse pool of talent in software and cyber systems, app development and graphics performance.’